1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a system and method for providing virtual network services to non-dedicated telephone stations in a virtual network having geographically diverse stations.
2. Background Information
Virtual networking allows telephone stations at multiple locations to be dialed as though they were at one location. In order to gain access to a virtual network service, each telephone station must indicate to the network that virtual network service is desired. For telephone stations dedicated to the virtual network, such as those located in business offices, there are two types of indicators or triggers which provide acceptable service: dedicated access lines and automatic number identification (ANI). In either case, all calls generated from a particular station are billed as virtual network calls. However, a problem arises where the use of non-dedicated telephone stations, such as those to be used in a work-at-home environment, is desired. If the work-at-home employee has only one telephone line, the telephone station on that line will be dedicated to the virtual network and all calls made on that line will be billed to the virtual network. Thus, the business will be paying for all of the employee's personal calls. One solution to this problem is to install a second telephone line at the home of each work-at-home employee. This is a costly solution because the business must pay monthly charges for each line installed, even if it is only used occasionally. What is needed is a way to bill business calls from an employee's home telephone to a business and to bill personal calls from the same telephone to the employee.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,571 to Kay et al., a work at home service is offered in conjunction with an area-wide Centrex service. The service logic which processes a call is contained in the local exchange environment. This system allows a work-at-home caller to dial an access code in order to gain access to business Centrex services. When the local switch connected to the originating station detects the access code, it queries a service control point which matches the originating station number to a corresponding business number of a Centrex group. The local exchange carrier network then processes the call as though it originated from the corresponding business number. This service is limited in operation to the area served by the local exchange carrier, that is, all stations must be connected to the same local exchange carrier in order to use the service.
A need arises for a work-at-home service which allows stations to be located anywhere in the country.